Risto Ryti

Risto Ryti (3 February 1889-25 October 1956) was Prime Minister of Finland from 1 December 1939 to 19 December 1940, succeeding A.K. Cajander and preceding Jukka Rangell and President of Finland from 19 December 1940 to 4 August 1944, succeeding Kyosti Kallio and preceding Gustaf Mannerheim.

Biography
Risto Ryti was born on 3 February 1889 in Huittinen, Finland. He graduated from the University of Helsinki with a law degree, and he served as the wealthy Alfred Kordelin's legal adviser and befriended him; in 1917, Kordelin was murdered by Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War. Ryti hid in the Bolshevik-dominated capital of Helsinki for the rest of the Finnish Civil War that ensued, but Ryti later became a member of parliament and the Minister of Finance. On 1 December 1939 he was chosen as Kyosti Kallio's Prime Minister, and on 19 December 1940 he succeeded Kallio upon his death from a stroke. Alongside Vaino Tanner, he led Finland during the Winter War with the Soviet Union, and he aligned Finland with Nazi Germany during World War II to fight against the Russians. The "Continuation War" with the Russians raged until 1944, when Ryti resigned due to "health problems" and the insistence of his government. Gustaf Mannerheim was his replacement, and Ryti was sentenced to ten years in prison by the Soviet Union after the war's end in 1945. He was released in 1949 after most of his stomach was removed due to a tumor, and he died in 1956.